On the night of September 3rd I revisited some double stars in Lyra with the TAL 200K. I started about 22.00 hours UT With the famous Double Double, Epsilon 1 and Epsilon 2 Lyrae. With the 32mm plossl (62x) Epsilon 1 and 2 where clearly split as a double star, but

both components showed no hint of being doubles themselves. At 80x (25mm) they started to look like they both where doubles. At 133x they where both clearly split and at 200x they looked like two close couples of stars, aligned perpendicular to each other (see image below. North is up and west is to the left. At the top you see Eta Lyra 1 with the A (the brighter lower one of the two) and the B component. At the bottom of the image you see Eta Lyra 2 with the C (the brighter one to the left) component and the D component.

Image from Skytools2 by Capellasoft

The AB pair is separated by 2.6”, the A component has a (visual magnitude) vM 5.4, the B component is of vM 6.5. The position angle is 357 degrees. The CD pair is separated by 2.3”, the C component has a vM of 5.1, the D component 5.3. The position angle is 94 degrees. All four stars seem to have the same colour, white. They are all spectral types A.

Vega (Alpha Lyrae)
This beautiful white-bluish star is the fifth brightest star in the sky, and the third brightest to be seen in our mid-northern latitudes. The five brightest stars are:

Vega is a multiple star system (3) but I could not detect one of the two faint companions.

Zeta Lyrae
Zeta Lyrae forms a triangle with Vega and the Double-Double. It is a beautiful double star with two bright yellow-white components (vM 4.3 and 5.9), separated by 44”. A great couple for any telescope or big binocular. According to James Kaler the A component is a hydrogen-fusing dwarf and it’s companion, the D component, is a class F “subgiant”.

Delta Lyrae
The next stop is Delta Lyrae and the open cluster Stephenson 1. Delta Lyrae is a very wide pair, which is already split in the finder scope. The magnitude 4.5 Delta Lyrae 2 is separated about 10’ from the 5.6 Delta Lyrae 1. Delta Lyrae 2 looks orange while Delta Lyrae 1 has a white-bluish colour. Between and around these two stars I can detect a group of 10 stars that probably belong to the open cluster Stephenson 1.

Beta Lyrae
I end my short trip along some doubles in Lyrae with Beta Lyrae. This again is a stunning pair with a bright 3.4 A component and a 8.9 B component as its companion at a position angle of 149 degrees. This close couple is only separated by 46”. Lyrae has some really great doubles for telescopes and binoculars. Earlier this year I observed almost the same stars with the 15 x 80 binoculars, but these beautiful doubles are great for all instruments! The light polluted sky does not affect these beauties too much.

On August the 21st I observed some deepsky objects with the 15x80 Vixen and the Sky Window. The objects I observed where Mu Cephei, M 52, NGC 7789, NGC 457, Stock 2 and The double cluster in Perseus.

Mu Cephei
I started with Mu Cephei, Herschel’s Garnet Star. After searching for half an hour I finally found it, using a printed star chart from TheSky. As you can see on the image below, Mu Cephei lies

in an arc of 6 stars. Once you know to locate this group, it is very easy to identify the Garnet star.

Mu Cephei in an arc of stars. Map generated with SkyTools2 by Capellasoft

This is the very first time I see the Garnet Star through my big binoculars and it looks really impressive, with its bright deep orange glow.

M 52
Next on the list was M 52. To find M 52, I started at Alpha Cassiopeiae. From there I went in a straight line to Beta Cassiopeiae, and extended the line with the same distance Alpha-Beta. With direct vision there is not much to see, just a hint of a small patch of light. With averted vision, M 52 turns into a hazy path of light, with a triangular form, very easy to see with the 15 x 80. There are 1 or two stars visible. The rest of the cluster just looks like a small nebula.

NGC 7789
M 52 has a magnitude of 6.9 and its diameter is 12’ Another bright cluster in Cassiopeia, NGC 7789 has a magnitude 6.7 but it’s diameter is a bit arbitrary when you read different publications and sources about this beautiful cluster. Most publications state that its diameter is 16’. If you compare both magnitudes and sizes of these two clusters, they should look almost the same through the 15x80 big binoculars, but they don’t! NGC 7789 looks not only a bit brighter, but much larger than M 52. After looking through some recently bought books, I noticed that according to Archinal and Hynes (Starclusters) and Crossen and Rhemann (Sky Vistas) the diameter of NGC 7789 is 25’. I think this is much closer to what you really see, than the 16’ I find in most sources on the Internet. I go for 25’.

You can find NG 7789 by starting at Beta Cassiopeiae. From there you move your binoculars into south-south-western direction for about 3.5 degrees where you will spot the bright cluster immediately. Through the 15x80 I could not resolve NGC 7789. It remained a bright hazy patch of light, though sometimes you (think?) you see a hint of granulation. NGC 7789 is made up of hundreds of stars, but no stars shines brighter than mag 10.7. Under light polluted skies my 15 x 80 never showed any stars dimmer than mag. 9.5 to 10. Anyway, it’s one of my favourites!

NGC 457 (Caldwell 13)
An even more impressive cluster for big binoculars is NGC 457. This cluster lies 2 degrees to the south-southeast of Delta Cassiopeiae. The cluster looks like a “stick man” (or as ET according to other observers). When you look at NGC 457 through the 15 x 80’s, you immediately see the two “bright eyes”, as well as the main “bar” of a body, the arms and feet. The cluster’s diameter is about 20’ (Archinal and Hynes). It’s visual magnitude about 6.4, a great sight through both binoculars as well as through a telescope.

Stock 2
From NGC 457 it’s only a short “trip” to Stock 2, a big open cluster, 1 degree in diameter, that lies between Epsilon Cassiopeiae and the famous Double Cluster in Perseus. Stock 2 looks even more like a “stick man” than NGC 457. The body, arms and legs are very easy to see. In the 15 x 80 you can even see some kind of oval head. You can see about 50 to 70 stars in big binoculars. Stock 2, NGC 457 and NGC 7789 are definitely my favourite clusters in Cassiopeia!

The Double Cluster in Perseus (Caldwell 14)
From Stock 2 it’s again a short hop to the famous Double Cluster in Perseus, NGC 884 and NGC 869. There are no words to describe the beauty of these two clusters through big binoculars or a rich field telescope. This is the first, or one of the first objects I saw through a telescope, almost 30 years ago, and it still is one of my favourites, which I visit on every possible occasion. Both clusters are about 30’ in diameter (as large as a full Moon), and they are separated only by 0.5 degrees. Both clusters are already well resolved, and to me they look like two boxes of jewels in the night sky. As I said earlier, I cannot find the words to describe the beauty of these two great open clusters, so go out and take a look for yourself. It will become one of your favourites too!

With the Double Cluster I ended my observing session for tonight. I used the 15 x 80 and the Sky Window for all my observing tonight. I located the objects with the help of the SkyAtlas 2000 and a printed map of the Mu Cephei area.

A few weeks ago I got my digital setting circles for the EQ 6 mount, the Argo Navis DTC (Digital Telescope Computer), manufactured by Wildcard Innovations in Australia. The Argo Navis DTC has 29.000 objects in its

database. Some of its catalogues are: the complete NGC and Messier, non stellar selections from the IC, bright stars (a selection of stars to magnitude 6.5 with historical names, Bayer and / or Flamsteed identifiers), miscellaneous variable stars, miscellaneous double stars, the planets of our solar system, and miscellaneous selections from many other deepsky catalogues.

Setup of the Argo Navis
I ordered the Argo Navis and a set of encoders (8192 steps) for the EQ 6 from JMI. The package arrived in good order, and the installation of the encoders took me about 15 minutes. The only piece of equipment I used was a screwdriver (on the images below you see the RA and DEC encoders mounted on the EQ6). After the installation of the encoders I installed 4 AA 1.5V batteries to provide the internal power for the computer (you can order an external DC power cable to connect the Argo Navis to an external power source, like a 12V car battery). Finally, I connected the computer to the encoders using the encoder cables. I was ready to do the initial setup.

RA encoder

DEC encoder

After going through the initial setup (which you only have to do once and takes about half an hour) I started the alignment procedure. This procedure has to bee done every time you setup your telescope. The alignment procedure is very simple for the EQ6. Get the scope polar-aligned as exactly as possible. Then align the telescope on a star that you select from the alignment star list in the Argo Navis, and you are ready to go.

First run of the Argo Navis
After doing the alignment I gave the Argo Navis a first try. To locate a certain object I first had to select it from the database. After confirming the selection, the LCD display showed two coordinates. I then simply moved the telescope along both the RA and DEC axis until both coordinates were zero. If I had aligned the telescope properly, the object should be in the field of view.

The first “run” was very satisfying. From the 9 objects I selected, only 2 where a just outside my 46’ field of view. I presume that with a more accurate polar-alignment the results will be even better.

First overall impression of the Argo Navis
The JMI set of encoders and cables were very easy to install. The 178-page manual (which you will find on a CD that comes with the Argo Navis) guides you through the initial setup and the alignment procedure. The database of 29000 objects (bright stars, double stars, variables and many thousands of deep sky objects) is really impressive. You can even add more than a thousand user objects, using the software and serial cable that comes with the Argo Navis DTC. The computer provides a wealth of details for every object within the database, for example M31:

The last data “SA=4” means that you find M31 in the SkyAtlas 2000 on map 4. You can change this into the Millennium Star Atlas or the Uranometria edition 1 chart numbers.

As you can see on the image below, the controls of the Argo Navis are very “basic”.

After you have switched the computer on you only have to operate two push buttons (exit and enter) and a big dial that lets you scroll through all the menus and catalogues. This is very convenient in the dark. The Argo Navis has an LCD-heater on board that enables you to use it in temperatures as low as -10 degrees Celsius (14 Fahrenheit). The LCD display size is 32 digits, 2 lines. You can set the scroll rate of the text and the brightness and contrast of the LCD display to your own likings.

Until now, I am very impressed by this small computer, but I will have to test it some more. I will keep you updated about future results.

During the last few days I have been observing sunspot 656. I also shot some images. While processing the images I noticed that I really miss a good observing form for the sun as well as a registration form for the image data (how where the images shot and processed). Yesterday I created the some forms to log all the relevant data of the images I shoot. This should help me to get a better evaluation of the images. Anyway, here are a few nice shots I took. The first image, a close up of sunspot 656, was shot on Wednesday the 11th of August; the second was shot on Sunday the 15th of August. On the second shot you see sunspot 656 near the limb of the Sun.

The images where shot using the 4 inch TAL 100RS refractor. On Sunday I compared the views of the 4 inch refractor with the 8 inch Klevtzov Cassegrain. The images through the 4-inch where definitely sharper and had more contrast. A small sunspot, nr 657, was invisible with the 8-inch, while the 4-inch clearly showed this small dark spot. The 8-inch had much more trouble with the bad seeing conditions.

Last Saturday I spend the night with some fellow backyard-astronomers, observing a 15-day-old Moon. When the Moon is full (or almost full) you can observe the white crater rays very good. On the first of the images below you see the bright

crater ray systems around Copernicus and Kepler. Together with the Tycho ray system, these are my favourites.

During full Moon it is also possible to observe the different patches of Mare lavas. On the second image you see Mare Serenetatis. The centre of Mare Serenetatis consists of brighter Mare lava, surrounded by patches of darker material. Especially at the southern edge, where Mare Serenetatis and Mare Tranquillitatis meet, you can see the differences in the two types of Mare
lavas.

The third image is an overview image of the Moon as it was last Saturday (1st august 2004) around 11.00 UT.

All images where shot with the Nikon Coolpix 4500 and a 4-inch refractor (TAL 100RS). I used the Baader fringe-killer and the Baader UV/IR blocker. The third image was shot with a Vixen Lanthanum 25mm eyepiece (no zoom). The other two images where shot with a 20mm Vixen Lanthanum and 4x (Tycho) and 2x (Mare Serenetatis) optical zoom. All images are stacked out of 10 or more original images using Keiths image stacker. They where also processed with the same software. (Unsharp Masking, Denoise, Level/Histogram adjustment).

In time, I will publish a detailed observing report, in the Solar System section of my website. I will also add all the data about the images in the more report. I will keep you updated!

Last week I tested a few Baader filters with the 4-inch TAL refractor mounted on the EQ6. I only used the Baader Solar Filter (ND=5). I started with a 32 mm plossl. This eyepiece gives a magnification of 31x. The sun’s granulation was very easy to detect. The big group of sunspots (652) was near the western limb of the Sun. There where some

big fields of faculae around this group. To the south of 652 was another group of faculae visible. I tried other magnifications, but the best view visual was with the 32mm Televue plossl. There was great detail in the sunspots and faculae.

In the 4-inch TAL refractor, the image of the Sun is small, with some sky left around it. This telescope gives a more “stable” view of the Sun, compared to the 8-inch Klevtzov. The 4-inch is my favourite for observing the Sun. The fringe Killer softened the colour fringe around the Sun, but the colour fringe did not completely disappear.

With the Baader Continuum filter the views are even better. The sunspots, faculae and granulation ore shown some more contrast. The green image is very pleasing to the eyes. I prefer this to the white light image.

Later I shot some images of the sun, but the 32mm is not very useful. I did not get any satisfying results with this eyepiece. With the 25mm Vixen Lanthanum, the results immediately improved. I got the best overall pictures in white light with the following settings: f 4.7, ISO 100, 1/2000s, spot metering. With the Baader Continuum filter in place I used the following setting: f 4.2, ISO 100, 1/60s, spot metering.

On the digital images I noticed a difference with the visual observing I made. On the photographs, the details are better in white light, while observing visually the details are better when using the Continuum filter. The next time I will shoot the white light images using the ND=5 solar filter and the “green light” (Continuum filter) will be used to shoot images using the ND=3.8 solar filter.

On Friday night around 23:30 UT I shot some images of the Moon from my backyard. The 14-day-old Moon stood low above the southern horizon, and looked deep orange.

The colour image was shot with the Nikon Coolpix 4500 and the TAL 100RS (4-inch refractor) using a 20mm Vixen Lanthanum eyepiece.

After processing the image the contrast between the dark mare and brighter highlands become clearly visible. In the Mare itself you can see darker and lighter patches of Mare material. The Tycho and Copernicus lunar rays are also clearly visible on the processed image.

The image was stacked and processed using Keith’s Image Stacker. I stacked 19 original images (1600x1200, 1/15s, f3.3, ISO 100, spot metering) into 1 new image. The image was processed using unsharp masking and some adjustment of levels/histogram.

Yesterday there was a very big group of sunspot visible (nr. 0652). In the early morning while the sun was rising through the mist it was even visible to the naked eye (use eclips-shades!). The group looks spectacular through the telescope at all magnifications!